Thank you.
Yes there is a vaccine. The problem with with the whole situation is that the only way to confirm the disease is to recognise the symptoms and then confirm the symptoms by a blood test. As soon as there is an outbreak you can test healthy animals that have been vaccinated and get the same result as that produced by an infected animal. The test relies on the presence of antibodies to the disease being present in the blood to prove that the animal has come into contact with Foot and Mouth. When an animal is vaccinated, the vaccine replicates exposure to the disease and antibodies to it are produced. These antibodies will then fight any Foot and Mouth virus that enters the animals body thus giving immunity.
Such is the threat of Foot and Mouth that any animal tested that has antibodies to it is then too much of a risk - has the vaccination worked or is it infected?
On the whole animals are not tested unless clinical signs of the disease are apparent and as you can see any other testing would condemn not only infected animals but those protected with the vaccine also.
In Holland the Dutch authorities decided to test a recent batch of sheep imported from England. Antibodies were found and it was just too risky to wait and see if the disease developed or if they were a vaccinated flock and they were all slaughtered.
British scientists have stated that it would take an unlimited budget and five years research to develop a more effective vaccine, that could be detected during an outbreak, to the point of manufacture. As the world's scientists struggle with funding for Aids, cancer, MS, autism....etc, etc. this is a dream that is never going to be realised.
When you take into consideration that the area around Powys, in Wales, has more head of sheep than any other European country (if you think England looks tiny on the map, have a look at Wales and then imagine a small portion of that country!) you can begin to imagine the devastation this disease has the potential to wreck.
Dogs, cats, horses and all other pets and livestock are unable to contract the disease but the potential to spread it is enormous. If you have Foot and Mouth on your farm your cloven hoofed animals ( cows, pigs, sheep and goats) are lost. A five mile exclusion zone is put into effect (no human, traffic or animal movement unless approved and essential is allowed). You and your family and all animals left on the farm are stranded until at least ten days after the last confirmed case is reported. All workers that have been on your farm are not allowed to resume work on any farm until ten days after the last case is confirmed.

During the BSE crisis, as bad as it got, people were still saying, "At least it's not Foot and Mouth."
This is the 12th day since the first case was confirmed.